The art of creating flavors or fragrances involves blending a number of substances having individual characteristics to produce a composition which has the desired organoleptic effect. A successful product is not simply a combination of pleasant smelling or pleasant tasting materials; a successful product is one in which the individual character of each of the components is not readily perceived per se, but blends with each of the other odor or flavor notes to provide a single organoleptic impression.
To create this single organoleptic impression, the flavorist or perfumer uses a number of compounds which not only contribute their own characteristic odor or flavor to the blend, but which tie together the other materials used in the composition to form a more uniformly blended composition. This ability of a chemical to tie together individual contributions of the other materials is often described by the perfumer or flavorist as the ability to add "roundness" or "naturalness" to the composition. There is always a need for compounds which have this ability.